It is not a secret that the pollution in the oceans is threatening marine life and also creating all sorts of problems on the land. According to research that was recently carried out, it is highly likely that we will find more plastic as compared to fish in the waters by 2050. That is why many startups are focusing on ways to come up with solutions to the problem of pollution. The one approach that we are going to focus on is that of the bacterium.
The bacterium has been developed by two students, Jeanny Yao and Miranda Wang. The duo has been working on bacterium since their school years and is now getting ready to reap the benefits from it. The duo has already procured all patents and even managed to secure a funding of four hundred thousand dollars to develop a product at the age of twenty years.
Thanks to the bacterium, they both have already won five prizes and become quite popular because they are the youngest ever to win the Perlman science prize. All of this has been made possible because of this small bacteria that can transform plastic into CO2 and water. The technology can be used for two purposes; cleaning the beaches and creating raw materials for clothing.
Miranda Wang said, ‘It is practically impossible to make people stop using plastic, we need technology to break the material, and everything becomes biodegradable.’ The development of bacterium has been comprised of two parts. The first part is where the plastic is dissolved, and the enzymes catalyze, thus making the plastic become highly malleable fractions. These components are then housed in a biodigester station where they act as if they are leftovers of food. The project has to run for only 24 hours during which it transforms plastic to water.
What do you think of this technology?